When the cheering and MVP perks stop, what then? This ambitious adaptation of Frank Deford's novel about three tumultuous decades in the lives of a Washington Redskins football star and his two biggest fans attempts to answer this question. Dennis Quaid h... Read More

When the cheering and MVP perks stop, what then? This ambitious adaptation of Frank Deford's novel about three tumultuous decades in the lives of a Washington Redskins football star and his two biggest fans attempts to answer this question. Dennis Quaid has his rangiest role to date as Gavin Grey, who goes, De Niro-like, from sinewy gridiron Adonis to embittered has-been with sizable beer gut. Jessica Lange brings her customary class and inner strength to Babs, the Louisiana State homecoming queen who marries college sweetheart Gavin and forfeits her identity; Timothy Hutton is Donnie, Gavin's cousin who secretly pines for the neglected Babs. But it's big guy John Goodman in one of his first screen roles who blasts through in this cross between The Way We Were and North Dallas Forty. Taylor Hackford, no slouch at epic melodramas (The Devil's Advocate), directed from a script by Tom Rickman (Oscar-nominated for Coal Miner's Daughter). Gavin's two-hours-later epiphany? "There's more to life than making touchdowns." --Glenn Lovell

Book details for Everybody's All American

Gavin Grey is everyone's all-American. A star running back at the University of North Caroline in the late 1950s, he graces the covers of Time and Life magazines and appears on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Everyone wants a piece of him or to be around him to... Read More

Gavin Grey is everyone's all-American. A star running back at the University of North Caroline in the late 1950s, he graces the covers of Time and Life magazines and appears on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Everyone wants a piece of him or to be around him to bask in his glory, including his nephew Donny, who narrates the story and is Gavin's only real confidant.

After college, Gavin goes on to the NFL where he has a solid career. As his playing days wind down and the cheering stops, however, he finds the adjustment to life as an ex-athlete difficult to accept. His wife "Babs" goes off to work, becomes the primary breadwinner for the family while Gavin continues to trade on his memories of old times, when he was everybody's All-American.